Benefit Period

What is a Medicare Benefit Period?

A benefit period is a method used in Original Medicare to measure a beneficiary’s use of hospital and skilled nursing facility (SNF) services. Each new benefit period charges the beneficiary a new benefit period deductible.

A benefit period begins the day you are admitted into a facility for inpatient care.  A benefit period ends when the beneficiary has not received any inpatient hospital care (or skilled care in an SNF) for 60 days in a row for the same medical issue.